Rope die



J'al'l. 2, 1945. CANTRELL EVAL 2,366,593

ROPE DIE Filed June 17, 1945 H .CANTRELL T wAcKsoN w- HowARTH Inventors 7 VMM Hnrncy Patented Jan. 2, 1-945` s l s Rojmn y l ,s y Harold Cantrell," Thomas Jackson, `and William f Howarth, Spondon, near Derbyr.V England, .as` 3 `sgnors` to `British `Celanese Limited, London,

England, a company Great Br Application June 17, 1943, Serial No. 491,142

itain A In Greatritain April 425, 1942` n 5 claims.

facture of ropes, lines,` cords and the like and is particularly concerned with the Iapparatus employed in such manufacture for the laying and closing of the strands of the rope.` n

In the practice of rope-making,`the threads or strands of which the 'rope is` made are passed througha throat or die `mounted in the turning head of the machine, the throat or die being "formedlof a tapered bush flangedatoneend for the `purpose of axially locating the die and being 1 "l fitted with a key `or snug to ensure its rotation with the turning head. The lengthpdiameter andtaperoi the throat or die depend upon the nature and size of the 4strand or rope being made necessary to replace the throat with another ofthe appropriate size. The provisionof the necessary 'ranges of throats of different dimensions necessary to render a machine adaptable forrthe production of diiierent sizes of rope is `thus very costlyand it is an object of the present forclampingsaidplates together so` that said Y apertures are alignedwith one another to form a tube. Preferably the edges or the apertures are rounded, so asto 'enable adjacent discs to be of different diameters without presenting a `sharp edge to the material passing through the throat. By these means, with a suitablestock of apertured plates a throat or die of any desired length, diameter and taper maylieasily and quickly be built up, the stock of apertured plates necessary 4and if aV different size of rope is required it is s u, l s u u (citi-138) s k y u s u y This application'islconcerned` with themanui .that .at the inputlend may be flared, or rounded to `a greater extent on the` side adjacent to the securingange than on the other side. In this arrangement, the sleeve in which the discs are assembled may be relied on to `hold the discs icc.-V axially in register with one another. `Any other suitable means, however, `maybe used `foimlzliis purpose. i i

additionltc the expansion `relieves abrasive action between the v outlet end ofthe tube and the rope, which,

the course of the operation, remains stationary., r

While the head in which the Athroat is mounted rotates. s i l The invention is applicable to themanufacture of ropes, lines, cordsand like products generally, `whatever thematerial from which they are made but is of particular advantage in mak ing suchproducts from continuous laments that s i have been stretched in thepresenceof a softening agent so as to impart Ito them a high tensile strength Examples of materials that may be treated in .thismanner .are the'organic derivfor the purpose being far smaller andless exg pensive thanthe range of throats'or dies that l "can be made upffrom them. V

A convenient method of clamping together the Y series `of `discs is by `assembling the discs in` a sleeve cut to the `appropriate length and having an inwardly projecting `'flange vat one end in order :to retain 'thediscsi and securing thefdiscs `at'the other end of thesleeve by. means of a cap, also 1 `provided with` an inwardly projecting flange,

:screwed over the `outside ofthe sleeve. The invvardly` projecting iiangeson the sleeve and the securing cap, particularly the flange at the input end .of the throat, are preferably rounded off so `as not to presenta sharp edge, and in addition the discsat the l'endsNo fthe series, particularly atives of cellulose, particularly cellulose acetate,

continuouslaments of which may be stretched to 5, 10 or more times their original length with a consequent increase `in strength of upto 4.5

grams 'per denier or more. `Where filaments of` a cellulose :ester are stretched in this manner :for

'the purpose of being made into ropes, e. g., as

described in Canadian application 1S. No. 483,499 1i1ed-June10,.194l, they may be `further improved by-being subsequently sapon-ied, which reduces their weight without reducing to a correspondl ing degree the tension they :are able to withstand,

so that their tensile .strength in grams per denier is further in'crea'sed, e. g., up to 6 `grams per denier or more. The use of a throat or `die having a .slightly tapered outlet is ofwespecial advantage f in connection 'with materials of this kind since the stretched continuous Vfilaments `are often extremely iine and 'are more liable to damage by abrasion than coarser bres such las the natural Aiibres` `commonly used in `themanufacture of ropes. l

The ready adjustment, at will, 4ofthe dimensions `and form ofthe throat Athat is obtainable by the `present invention has far reaching eiects on" the opti-mum conditions for "the manufacture `of ropes, lines,` cords :and like products. For excom adjustment of the length,- 1 `diameter and taper of the tube` constituting the contact inside the die or throat.

2. ample, it makes it economically profitable to pay greater attention than heretofore to the precise control of the tension in the material during the y laying and closing operation, so that a product possible to obtain ropes which, while of greatV uniformity and stability, are of less density, i. e., of greater bulk per unit of weight. This feature, in combination with the use of artificial materials of exceptional tensile strength as noted above, enables ropes of natural bres to be matched, as to both strength and diameter, by ropes which 'are Vnevertheless lighter in weight. Ordinarily, the use of stronger materials would enable only the strength or the diameter to be matched, a thinner and lighter rope resulting in the first case and an unnecessarily strong and heavy rope in the second case. It appears possible that this result of the present invention, of enabling satisfactory ropes of lower density to be obtained, may be assisted by the ridged character of the internal surface of the throat or die. This arises from the rounded form of the edge of the aperture in each disc, the primary purpose of which is to enable transition from a larger to a slightly smaller aperture to take .i

place without presenting a sharp edge with which the material in the rope is likely to come in The ridged nature of the internal surface of the throat causes the pressure applied to the rope by the throat for the purpose of compacting and closing the strands of the rope to be applied intermittently instead of continuously, so that the average action on the rope for a given maximum compacting pressure is of a gentler character than .l

Where a smoothly tapered bore is employed.

By way of example one form of throat or die in accordance with the present invention will now be described in greater detail with reference tothe accompanying drawing, which shows the throat or die in sectional side elevation.

The throat is built up from aseries of 15 discs I, each of a thickness yof 1A and of an external diameter of 1". Each disc has a central perforation ranging in the different discs from 1/2" on the right hand side of the gure to W16" in the disc particularly indicated at 2. The edge of the aperture in each case is roundedl to a radius of 3AG. The internal diameters of the adjacent discs l differ from one another by M54," so that the throat gradually tapers'from 1/2 at the wide or inlet end (at the right hand side of the gure) to 5%16 at the thirteenth disc indicated at 2, the remaining two discs 3 and 4 increasing again by similar steps so that the outlet or left hand endof the throat is slightly divergent for a short distance.

The discs l to 4 are packed together in a sleeve 5 having an internal flange E and an external ange 'l at the inlet end. The internal flange 6 is adapted to retain the discs I and is rounded at 8 -on the inlet side of the ange to a radius of 1/`i". The aperture of the disc l adjacent to the flange 6 is rounded about a centre slightly oiset from the middle of the discs thickness so that the edge of the aperture is more rounded on the` inlet side (next to the flange 6) than on the other. The external flange 'l serves to locate the throat axially in the turning head in which it is used. A pin 9 is mounted in the external flange to .engage with a slot in the turning head so as to ensure that the throat rotates with the turning head.

The other end of the sleeve 5 is externally screw-threaded and over it is screwed a cap I0 having an internal ange Il which engages the disc 4 at the outlet end of the throat and retains all the discs. The sleeve 5 is cut to a length of just under 3%" so that the last disc 4, at the outlet end of the throat just iits into the sleeve 5 and is engaged bythe internal iiange Il of the retaining cap I0.

Having described our invention what we desire to claim by Letters Patent is:

1. A throat or die for rope-making comprising a series of plates each having an aperture therein and means for clamping said plates together so that said apertures are aligned with oneanother to form a tube, the edge of each of said apertures being rounded so that its intersection with any plane through the axis of said tube iswholly convex towards said axis.

`2. A throat or die for rope-making comprising a series of plates each having a circular aperture therein, each of said apertures having a rounded edge, and means for clamping said plates together so that said apertures are aligned with one another to form a tube, said apertures being arranged so as to decrease in diameter from one end of said tube to a point near the other end and to increase again from said point to-said other end.

3. A throator die for rope-making comprising a series of plates each having a circular aperture therein, each of said apertures having av rounded edge, a sleeve adapted to hold said plates in alignment `with one another so that they form' the inlet end of the tube being more rounded on the inlet side of the plate than on the other side.

4. A throat or die -for rope-making comprisingV a series of plates each having an aperture therein, a sleeve adapted to hold said plates in alignment with one another so that they form a tube, the edge oi each of said apertures being rounded so that its intersection with any plane through the axis of said tube is wholly convex towards said axis, an internal flange at one end of said sleeve for retaining said plates therein and a cap having an internal flange and adapted to be secured to the other end of said sleeve so as to clamp said plates.

5. A throat or die for rope-making compris,-4

section with anyplane through the axis of said tube is wholly convex towards said axis, the edge of the aperture at the inlet end of said tube being f more rounded on the inlet side of the plate than on the other side.

HAROLD CAN'I'RELL. THOMAS JACKSON. WILLIAM HOWARTH. 

